1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator and hose assembly for conveying pressurized fluid from an aerosol container to a receiver wherein the container has an upwardly biased and extending, axially shiftable, tubular stem to which the actuator couples for selectively releasing the fluid. More particularly, the actuator is biased upwardly and requires manual downward shifting in order to release the fluid from the container for conveyance through the hose to a receiver to which the other end of the hose assembly is coupled.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art devices are available for conveying pressurized fluid from an aerosol container to a receiver, and more particularly, for example, for conveying pressurized refrigerant from a container thereof to the low side of an automotive air conditioner system. Such devices are used by "do-it-yourself" automobile owners to convey refrigerant into the low pressure side of an automotive air conditioning system in order to recharge the system. For do-it-yourself recharging of automotive air conditioners, a pressure tight assembly is needed which couples and seals with the refrigerant container, conveys the refrigerant, and couples with a recharging nipple fitting provided in the low side piping of a typical automotive air conditioning system.
One example of a prior art fluid conveying device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,110. The '110 patent discloses a device having a connector which threadably couples with a correspondingly threaded stem on a special aerosol container, a delivery hose, and a conventional swivel fitting which correspondingly couples with a fitting on the low side piping of an air conditioning system. The device as disclosed in the '110 patent requires that the upstanding stem on an aerosol container be threaded and adapted to receive the corresponding connector of the device.
Conventional aerosol containers, however, do not have a threaded upstanding stem but rather have a nonthreaded, axially shiftable, tubular stem which is desirble in order to minimize container manufacturing cost. Thus, the prior art discloses a need for an actuator and hose assembly which can couple with a conventional, upstanding, axially shiftable, tubular stem on an aerosol container.